Fleetwood Limited (ASX:FWD) has announced its receipt of a contract to build and install 60 homes for the Queensland state government.
The contract is part of a larger QLD plan announced last month to build 600 modular homes intended to add some liquidity to a record low vacancy pool.
Fleetwood owns a manufacturing facility in QLD but the size of the contract is perhaps indicative of a state government testing out just what Fleetwood can accomplish in a world where thousands of Australian construction companies died during COVID.
Case in point, the contract is worth $40M – nothing to sneeze at for shareholders, but in context of the larger 600-house strategy QLD wants, only 1% of projected demand.
Still, this may be looked back upon as the first sign of life that Australia’s construction landscape is starting to heal. Just try telling that to Australians living out of their cars.
“While the Company has been successfully supplying limited quantities of homes into this sector for some time, the award of this larger package positions Fleetwood to display our capability to play a part in solving the critical housing shortage nationally,” Fleetwood CEO Bruce Nicholson said.
“The award aligns with Fleetwood’s strategy of growing in the social housing sector by working closely with State Governments.”
No doubt, a safer – and more certain – place for builders to currently be.
FWD last traded at $1.48/sh.